9 




QsiSsJT^JP 



Book_ -^,J1^A 




Wiux Bepattment. 



Accession No. 



47Ji;^4 



CONDENSED 


SUGGESTIONS 


FOR STEEL 


WORKERS 










jIK 






wwH 










PITTSBURGH, PA. 
CRUCIBLE STEEL COMPANY 

OF AMERICA 
190? 






Copyright, 1890, by Crescent Steel Co. 
Reprint, 1902, by Crucible Steel Company of America 



Transfer 

j^mw War CoUege 

June 20 1933 



-^3^17^0^ 



0^ CO 



On Annealing 



/^WING to the fact that the oper- 
^-^ ations of rolling and hammering 
steel make it very hard, it is frequently 
necessary that the steel should be an- 
nealed before it can be conveniently cut 
into the shapes required for tools. 

A NNEALING or softening is ac- 
-^"^ complished by heating steel to a 
red heat and then cooling it very slowly, 
to prevent it from getting hard again. 

npHE higher the degree of heat the 
-■' more will steel be softened, until 
the limit of softness is reached when 
the steel is melted. 

TT does not follow that the higher a 
-■■ piece of steel is heated the softer it 
will be when cooled, even though the 
cooling may be very slo,w ; this is proved 
by the fact that an ingot is always harder 
than a rolled or hammered bar made 
from it. 



4 CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

nPHEREFORE, there is nothing 
■ gained by heating a piece of steel 
hotter than a good, bright, cherry red ; 
on the contrary, a higher heat has sev- 
eral disadvantages : First — If carried 
too far it may leave the steel actually 
harder than a good red heat would leave 
it. Second — If a scale is raised on the 
steel, this scale will be harsh, granular 
oxide of iron, and will spoil the tools 
used to cut it. It often occurs that 
steel is scaled in this way, and then 
because it does not cut well it is custo- 
mary to heat it again, and hotter still, to 
overcome the trouble, while the fact is, 
that the more this operation is repeated 
the harder the steel will work, because of 
the hard scale and the harsh grain under- 
neath. Third — A high scaling heat, 
continued for a little time, changes the 
structure of the steel, destroys its crystal- 
line property, makes it brittle, liable to 
crack in hardening and impossible to 
refine. 



ON ANNEALING 



A GAIN, it is common practice to 
put steel into a hot furnace at the 
close of a day's work and leave it there 
all night. This method always gets the 
steel too hot, always raises a scale on it, 
and, worse than either, it leaves it soak- 
ing in the fire too long, and this is more 
injurious to steel than any other opera- 
tion to which it can be subjected. 

A GOOD illustration of the destruc- 
tion of crystalline structure by long 
continued heating may be had by oper- 
ating on chilled cast iron. 

T F a chill be heated red hot and re- 
moved from the fire as soon as it is 
hot, it will, when cold, retain its peculiar 
crystalline structure ; if now it be heated 
red hot, and left at a moderate red for 
several hours — in short, if it be treated 
as steel often is and be left in a furnace 
over night, it will be found, when cold, 
to have a perfect amorphous structure. 



6 CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

every trace of chill crystals will be gone, 
and the whole piece will be non-crystal- 
line gray cast iron. If this is the effect 
upon coarse cast iron, what better is to 
be expected from fine cast steel ? 

A PIECE of fine tap steel, after hav- 
ing been in a furnace over night, 
will act as follows : It will be harsh 
in the lathe and spoil the cutting tools. 

XX/HEN hardened it will almost cer- 
tainly crack ; if it does not crack 
it will have been a remarkably good steel 
to begin with. When the temper is 
drawn to the proper color and the tap is 
put into use, the teeth will either crumble 
off or crush down like so much lead. 
Upon breaking the tap, the grain will be 
coarse and the steel brittle. 

HP O anneal any piece of steel, heat it 

red hot ; heat it uniformly and heat 

it through, taking care not to let the 

ends and corners get too hot. As soon 



ON ANNEALING 



as it is hot, take it out of the fire, the 
sooner the better, and cool it as slowly 
as possible. A good rule for heating is 
to heat it at so low a red that when the 
piece is cold it will still show the blue 
gloss of the oxide that was put there by 
the hammer or the rolls. 

CTEEL annealed in this way will cut 
very soft; it will harden very hard, 
without cracking, and when tempered 
it will be very strong, nicely refined, and 
will hold a keen, strong edge. 




On Heating to Forge 

Pj^ULLY as much trouble and loss are 
"*" caused by improper heating in the 
forge fire as in the tempering fire, al- 
though steel may be heated safely very 
hot for forging if it be done properly ; 

but ANY HIGH DEGREE OF HEAT, no 

matter how uniform it may be, is unsafe 

for HARDENING. 

' I ^HE trouble in the forge fire is usu- 
ally UNEVEN HEAT, and not too 
high heat. Suppose the piece to be 
forged has been put into a very hot fire, 
and forced as quickly as possible to a 
high yellow heat, so that it is almost up 
to the scintillating point. If this be 
done, in a few minutes the outside will 
be quite soft and in nice condition for 
forging, while the middle parts will be 
not more than red hot. The highly 
heated soft outside will have very little 
tenacity : that is to say, this part will 
be so far advanced toward fusion that 



ON HEATING TO FORGE 



the particles will slide easily over one 
another, while the less highly heated 
inside parts will be hard, possessed of 
high tenacity, and the particles will not 
slide so easily over each other. 

"^TOW let the piece be placed under 
the hammer and forged, and the 
result will be as shown in fip;ure i. 



^Vr^r-r. 



-rr 



FIGURE I. 



'~P'HE soft outside will yield so much 
more readily than the hard inside 
that the outer particles will be torn 
asunder, while the inside will remain 
sound, and the piece will be thrown out 
and branded " burned." 

CjUPPOSE the case to be reversed and 

the inside to be much hotter than 

the outside : that is, that the inside shall 



lo CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

be in a state of semi-fusion, while the 
outside is hard and firm. 

"^TOW let the piece be forged and we 
'^'^ shall have the case as shown in 
figure 2. The outside will be all sound 
and the whole piece will appear perfectly 



FIGURE 2. 



good until it is cropped, and then it is 
found to be hollow inside, and it is 
thrown out and branded " burst." 

TN either case, if the piece had been 
heated soft all through, or if it had 
been only red hot all through, it would 
have forged perfectly sound and good. 

TF it be asked, why then is there ever 
any necessity for smiths to use a low 
heat in forging, when a uniform high 
heat will do as well? We answer — 



ON HEATING TO FORGE 



TN some cases a high heat is more 
desirable to save heavy labor, but in 
every case where a fine steel is to be 
used for cutting purposes, it must be 
borne in mind that very heavy forging 
refines the bars as they slowly cool, and 
if the smith heats such refined bars until 
they are soft, he raises the grain, makes 
them coarse, and he cannot get them 
fine again unless he has a very heavy 
steam hammer at command and knows 
how to use it well. 

T N following the above hints there is 
■*" a still greater danger to be avoided ; 
this is incurred by letting the steel lie 
in the fire after it is properly heated. 
When the steel is hot through it should 
be taken from the fire immediately and 
forged as quickly as possible. 

" C OAKING " in the fire causes steel 
to become " dry " and brittle, and 
does it more injury than any bad prac- 
tice known to the most experienced. 



On Heating 



/^ WING to varying instructions on 
a great many different labels, we 
find at times a good deal of misappre- 
hension as to the best way to heat steel; 
in some cases this causes too much 
work for the smith, and in other instan- 
ces disasters follow the act of hardening. 
There are three distinct stages or times 
of heating : 

First, for forging. 
Second, for hardening. 
Third, for tempering. 

' I * HE first requisite for a good heat for 
forging is a clean fire and plenty of 
fuel, so that jets of hot air will not strike 
the corners of the piece ; next, the fire 
should be regular, and give a good uni- 
form heat to the whole part to be 
forged. It should be keen enough to 
heat the piece as rapidly as may be, and 
allow it to be thoroughly heated through, 
without being so fierce as to overheat 
the corners. 



ON HEATING 



OTEEL should not be left in the fire 
^ any longer than is necessary to heat 
it clear through, as " soaking " in fire 
is very injurious ; and on the other hand 
it is necessary that it should be hot 
through to prevent surface cracks, which 
are caused by the reduced cohesion of the 
overheated parts, which overhe the cold- 
er center of an irregularly heated piece. 

T> Y observing these precautions a piece 
■*-' of steel may always be heated safe- 
ly, up to even a bright yellow heat, when 
there is much forging to be done on it j 
and at this heat it will weld well. 



T 



'HE best and most economical of 
welding fluxes is clean, crude borax, 
which should be first thoroughly melted 
and then ground to a fine powder. Bo- 
rax prepared in this way will not froth 
on the steel, and one-half of the usual 
quantity will do the work as well as the 
whole quantity unmelted. 



14 CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

\ FTER the steel is properly heated, 
"^^^ it should be forged to shape as 
quickly as possible, and just as the red 
heat is leaving the parts intended for 
cutting edges these parts should be re- 
fined by rapid, light blows, continued 
until the red disappears. 

T^OR the second stage of heating, for 
■*- hardening, great care should be 
used ; first, to protect the cutting edges 
and working parts from heating more 
rapidly than the body of the piece ; next, 
that the whole part to be hardened be 
heated uniformly through, without any 
part becoming visibly hotter than the 
other. A uniform heat, as low as will 
give the required hardness, is the best 
for hardening. 

"DEAR IN MIND that for every 
-'-' VARIATION OF HEAT, which is great 
enough to be seen, there will result a 
VARIATION IN GRAIN, which may be seen 



ON HEATING 



by breaking the piece ; and for every 
such variation in temperature, there is a 
very good chance for a crack to be 
seen. Many a costly tool is ruined by 
inattention to this point. 

T^HE effect of too high heat is to 
- OPEN the grain ; to make the 
steel COARSE. The effect of an irregu- 
lar heat is to cause irregular grain, 
IRREGULAR Strains and cracks. As soon 
as the piece is properly heated for hard- 
ening, it should be promptly and thor- 
oughly quenched in plenty of the cooling 
medium, water, brine, or oil, as the case 
may be. 

\ N abundance of the cooling bath, to 
■^~*' do the work quickly and uniformly 
all over, is very necessary to good and 
safe work. To harden a large piece 
safely, a running stream should be used. 
Much uneven hardening is caused by the 
use of too small baths. 



i6 CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

Pj^OR the third stage of heating, to 
-■- temper, the first important requisite 
is again uniformity. The next is 
TIME. The more slowly a piece is 
brought down to its temper, the better 
and safer is the operation. 

XXT'HEN expensive tools, such as 
^ taps, rose cutters, milling cutters, 
etc., are to be made, it is a wise precau- 
tion, and one easily taken, to try small 
pieces of the steel at different temper- 
atures, so as to find out how low a heat 
will give the necessary hardness. The 
lowest heat is the best for any steel, the 
test costs nothing, takes very little time, 
and very often saves considerable losses, 




On Temper 



'Tp HE word temper, as used by the 
"^ steel maker, indicates the amount 
of carbon in steel ; thus, steel of high 
temper, is steel containing much carbon ; 
steel of low temper, is steel containing 
little carbon ; steel of medium temper, 
is steel containing carbon between these 
limits, etc., etc. Between the highest 
and the lowest we have some twenty 
divisions, each representing a definite 
content of carbon. 

J\ S the temper of steel can only be 
^^ observed in the ingot, it is not 
necessary to the needs of the trade to 
attempt any description of the mode of 
observation, especially as this is purely 
a matter of education of the eye, only 
to be obtained by years of experience. 

T IKEWISE, the quality of steel can- 
•"'-^ not be determined from the appear- 
ance of the fracture of a bar as it comes 



i8 CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

from the hands of the manufacturer. 
This appearance is determined, in the 
main, by the heat at which the bar is 
finished, and therefore one end of a long 
bar (and especially of a hammered bar) 
may show a coarse, and the other end 
a fine grain, where the whole bar will 
be well suited for the purpose intended. 
Two tools properly heated, forged and 
hardened (one from each end of such a 
bar), will, if broken, show fractures 
similar in color and grain. 

TT'HE act of tempering steel is the 
"*" act of giving to a piece of steel, 
after it has been shaped, the hardness 
necessary for the work it has to do. 
This is done by first hardening the 
piece, generally a good deal harder than 
is necessary, and then toughening it by 
slow heating and gradual softening until 
it is just right for work. 



ON TEMPER 19 



A PIECE of Steel properlytempered 
-^"^ should ALWAYS be finer in grain 

THAN THE BAR FROM WHICH IT IS 

MADE. If it is necessary, in order to 
make the piece as hard as is required, to 
heat it so hot that after being hardened 
it will be as coarse, or coarser in grain 
than the bar, then the steel itself is of 
too low temper for the desired work. In 
a case of this kind the steel maker 
should at once be notified of the fact, 
and could immediately correct the 
trouble by furnishing higher steel. 

COMETIMES an effort is made to 
^ harden fine steel without removing 
(by grinding or other method) the scale 
formed in rolling, hammering or anneal- 
ing. The result will generally be dis- 
appointing, as steel which would harden 
through such a coating would be of 
too high temper where the scale was 
removed. 



20 CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

npHIS surface scale is necessarily of 
-■' irregular thickness and density, is 
oxide of iron — not steel — and therefore 
will not harden, and is to a certain ex- 
tent a bad conductor of heat. It should 
therefore be removed in every case to 
insure the best results. 

T F a great degree of hardness is not 
■*- desired, as in the case of taps and 
most tools of complicated form, and it 
is found that at a moderate heat the tools 
are too hard and are liable to crack, the 
smith should first use a lower heat in 
order to save the tools already made, and 
then notify the steel maker that his steel 
is too high, so as to prevent a recurrence 
of the trouble. In all cases where steel 
is used in large quantities for the same 
purpose, as in the making of axes, 
springs, forks, etc., there is very little 
difficulty about temper, because, after 
one or two trials, the steel maker learns 



ON TEMPER 



what his customer requires and can 
always furnish it to him. 

TN large, general works, however, such 
as a rolling mill and nail factory, or 
large machine works, or large railroad 
shops, both the maker and worker of the 
steel labor under great disadvantages 
from want of a mutual understanding. 

npHE steel maker receives his order 
"*- and fills the sizes of tempers best 
adapted to general work, and the smith 
usually tries to harden all tools at about 
the same heat. The steel maker is right, 
because he is afraid to make the steel too 
high or too low for fear it will not suit, 
and so he gives an average adapted to 
the size of the bar. 

' I ^HE smith is right, because he is 
■'' generally the most hurried and 
crowded man about the establishment. 
He must forge a tap for this man, a cold 
nail knife for that one, and a lathe cut- 



22 CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

ter for another, and so on ; and each 
man is in a hurry. 

T TNDER these circumstances he can- 
^^ not be expected to stop and test 
every piece of steel he uses, and find 
out exactly at what heat it will harden 
best and refine properly. 

"jlJE needs steel that will all harden 
■*' properly at the same heat, and this 
he usually gets from the general practice 
among steel makers of making each bar 
of a certain temper, according to its 
size. 

T> UT if it should happen that he were 
"^-^ caught with only one bar of say 
inch and a quarter octagon, and three 
men should come m a hurry, one for a 
tap, another for a punch, and another 
for a chilled roil plug, he would find it 
very diflicult to make one bar of steel 
answer for all of these purposes, even if 
it were of the very best quality. 



ON TEMPER 



'TT^HE chances are that he would make 
one good tool and two bad tools ; 
and when the steel maker came around 
to inquire, he would find one friend and 
two enemies, and the smith puzzled and 
in doubt. 

'TpHERE is a perfectly easy and sim- 
pie way to avoid all of this trouble ; 
and that is, to write after each size the 
purpose for which it is wanted, as, for in- 
stance : Track tools, smith tools, lathe 
tools, taps, dies, cold nail knives, cold 
nail dies, hot nails, hot or cold punches, 
shear knives, etc., etc. This gives very 
little trouble in making the order, and it 
is the greatest relief to the steel maker. 
It is his delight to get hold of such an 
order, for he knows that when it is filled 
he will hardly ever hear a complaint. 

"Cj^VERY steel maker worthy of the 
^^ name knows exactly what temper 
to provide for any tool, or if it is a new 



24 CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

case, one or two trials are enough to in- 
form him, and as he always should have 
twenty odd tempers on hand, it is just 
as easy — and far more satisfactory to 
both parties — to have it made right as 
to have it made wrong. 

"C\3R these reasons we urge all per- 
^ sons to specify the work the steel is 
to do, then the smith can harden all 
tools at about the same heat, and he will 
not be annoyed by complaints, or hints 
that he does not do his work well. 




On Furnaces 



V\7E present sketches of a cheap and 
^ * handy furnace for use in a black- 
smith's shop, adapted especially for heat- 
ing steel, and more particularly for 
heating steel for hardening. 

^ I ^HE furnace is so simple that the 
■*' sketches need no explanation ; for 
binders, ten pieces of old rail about six 
feet long with one end set in the ground, 
and the tops tied by ^-in. rods are all 
that is necessary, with a piece of iron 
about 3 X ^ in. running around near the 
top, and set in flush with the bricks. 

nPHE distinctive features of this fur- 
■*' nace are the fire bed and a good 
damper on the stack. In an experience 
of many years we have found nothing 
better than the Tupper grate bar with 
half-inch openings. These bars set in 
as shown make a level, permanent bed, 
and give an evenly distributed supply of 



a6 



CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 



air to the fuel. In such a furnace as 
this, one set of bars will last for years 
and remain level. 




End View, Stack 1 5^-20' High 



\X^HILE on the subject of grate 

bars we may as well say that the 

satisfactory and safe working of this fur- 



ON FURNACES 



27 



nace would be entirely defeated by any 
attempt to use either square wrought 
iron bars or ordinary straight cast iron 




4-!!-60 INCHES- 



p^WsijiFH^IT 



bars. Such bars always warp, get pushed 
out of place, and allow a rush of air 
through at one place, and no air at 
another. This causes hot and cold 
places in the furnace and produces un- 
even heating, which is the chief source 
of cracking in hardening ; moreover, 



28 



CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 



the air rushing through the large holes 
will burn the steel. A bar must be used 
which will remain level and in its place, 




^ 



^ ^ F^ 
^ ^ ^ 



^ 



J® 



^ 



'W 



and the smaller and more numerous the 
openings are, the better will be the 
result. 



/^LEAN, hard coke is the only proper 

fuel for such a furnace and for such 

work. The furnace should be filled full 



ON FURNACES 29 

up to the fore plate — or better, a little 
higher — with coke in pieces no larger 
than an ordinary man's fist, but the 
smaller the better. 

\X7HEN it is used for heating for 
^ ^ forging purposes the damper 
may be left high enough to run the fur- 
nace as hot as maybe required — if neces- 
sary, a welding heat can be obtained. 

AilT'HEN used for hardening, the fur- 
^ ^ nace should be got as hot as is 
needed before the steel is put into it ; 
then when the steel is put in the 
damper should be dropped down tight. 

'T'HE door, which is 12 inches high 
-*- and 24 inches wide, should be 
nicely balanced by a lever and weight, 
with a rod in a handy place so that the 
operator can pull it up easily and turn 
over his pieces from time to time, so as 
to get his heat perfectly uniform. 



30 CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

TN the clear gas of a coke fire, the 
^ whole interior of a furnace can be 
seen easily, and every piece can be 
watched as it ought to be. Time, care, 
watchfulness and absolute uniformity of 
heat are the essentials necessary for suc- 
cess in hardening steel. 

EVERY large shop should have such 
a furnace, and should have one 
man trained to its use, to do the hard- 
ening and tempering for the whole shop. 
Such a furnace in the hands of a careful 
man in any railroad shop in the country 
would pay for itself every year and save 
the man's wages besides. 

npHE furnace will consume very little 

-■- coke at any time, and when not in 

use, with the damper down, it will stay hot 

a long time and waste the coal but a trifle. 

THERE is no more absurd nor 
wasteful system than that of re- 
quiring a smith at his anvil to harden 



ON FURNACES 3' 

and temper his work. His fire is not 
fit to heat in, to begin with, and he 
never has time to do his work properly 
if it were. 

jCpROM such a furnace as is here de- 
-■- scribed, we harden all sorts of tools : 
taps, small dies, large rolls, rotary shear 
knives, and shear knives as large as five 
feet long, which is the whole length of 
the furnace. 

'"T^HE tempered steel which is best is 
•^ that which is the finest in the 
grain and the strongest. The best way 
to test both grain and strength is to 
hammer out a piece to about i}{x}i 
inch, a foot or so in length, and temper 
to a high blue or pigeon wing, and when 
cold to break it off in little pieces with a 
hand hammer. 

A LITTLE practice will soon enable a 
•^~^ man to determine, first, whether he 
heated his piece to just the right point. 



3a CONDENSED SUGGESTIONS 

The file and the appearance of the grain 
will determine this point. Next, when 
a little experience as to heat has been 
gained, he will know by the strength 
and grain whether his steel is really good, 
or whether it is " dry " and poor. 

"P INALLY— The art of working steel 
-*- can be acquired only by intelli- 
gent application. Some will never 
learn, and others seem to be imbued 
with the idea that twenty or thirty years' 
practice must necessarily qualify them 
as experts. In point of fact, something 
new can be learned every day, and he 
is wise who will lay aside prejudice and 
CHANGE his MIND whenever occasion 
requires it. 

XXT'E, as manufacturers, are always 
^ ^ pleased to have Steel Workers 
visit us, and see for themselves the care 
and attention given to the working of 
steel in every department. 

The Trow Print, N. Y. 



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